Terra s Destiny: Rise of an empire
by GeneralAllenWalker
Summary: 1996 will forever be remembered as the day humanity made first contact with Aliens. Years of UFO hunting followed, that ended in the greatest war humanity had ever seen. A war that would render humanity nearly exstinct. But out of the ashes of the old war rose the terrans. Armed with the Technology and the experiences of their tormentors they forever will Change the universe
1. Chapter 1

**Terra's destiny: Rise of an empire**

 **Hello there, this fanfiction of mine is a crossover between mostly stargate and XCOM. It is not under crossovers as it is also a crossover with other sci fi universes, but it is mostly between Stargate, XCOM and later Star wars ( the extended universe, not Disney´s shitty new canon).**

Samantha watched the landscape that could be seen through the windows of the train she rode. Other people would may have felt sick if they looked at the quickly rushing images, but for the woman who used to fly the finest machines the US Air force had to offer, motion sickness was an alien concept. Sam smiled in nostalgia, thinking back to some of the more stomach twisting stunts she had pulled while piloting a F16.

"Penny for your thoughts?" a well known voice asked her, hugging her from behind. She turned her head around and looked at her husbands mischievous face.

"It's nothing, I was just thinking about my time in the Air force and some of my more adventurous maneuvers. You still remember the one time, when I took you on a little trip in a F15?" she answered and laughed, while he turned green at the memory.

"Yeah!" he muttered, "I can still not believe that you actually were allowed to do that!"

"Well being the daughter of a general is certainly handy!"

"Yeah how is your father, I mean he was sick for a very long time. Is he alright?"

Samantha frowned at being reminded of the rather touchy subject for her. Jacob Carter, her father, had been diagnosed with cancer three years ago. The doctors predicted he had maybe two months left, three if he had a lot of luck.

She had spent every free second she had with him, even leaving the astronaut program for his sake. It had been the worst experience of her entire life; seeing him slowly die, while being unable to do anything, only spending time with him and praying.

One day when she was back at work, she got a message from one of the nurses working at the hospital where her father was treated, telling her to come immediately. Fearing the worst, she raced to Washington. And fate, or god, or whatever, decided to send her a blessing in disguise. In form of a car crash only twenty miles away from the capital.

She woke up with a concussion, four broken bones and minor inner bleeding in hospital. And in the bed besides her was the man who had pulled her out of her burning car, after she had wrecked his and had probably saved her life by performing first aid on her damaged body. Joseph Fauxton, Star diplomat of the United states, her future husband.

The next shock for her was when she asked to phone her dad, fearing that he had to die without her having one last talk with him. Instead she learned he had been introduced to a certain therapy, which could potentially save him. It was however a very risky new procedure, what meant that he shouldn't be stressed. What it translated to was it would be the best if he didn't hear of his daughters accident.

She spent the next two months in hospital, in which she chatted a lot with the Joseph. He had only suffered minor injuries and was released from hospital after a week, but frequently visited her. Not, as she had thought, to press charges for the incident, but to continue their talks.

Then talks became quickly fancy dinners in five star restaurants, reserved for high ranked politicians, millionaires and others of that sort and after that things between them got official. She constantly visited her father, who had made it through the therapy and slowly regained his strength.

And precisely one year after her first "meeting" with Joseph, (he often choked about how they would tell their children, that mum's and dad's first meeting included her nearly accidentally killing him and that it was symbolic for who had the pants on) they told her dad.

It had been an awkward event. Joseph Fauxton, one of Washington's top diplomats, who had to deal with some of the worst dictators in the world, men who murdered people in cold blood, looking so timid and intimidated by a man in his late fifties who had had been reduced to a thin skeleton by the therapy.

It ended with Jacob Carter, who had decided that it was the ideal moment to clean his old Enfield rifle, while talking with her boyfriend.

Needless to say, Sam had been very, very embarrassed by this, despite expecting it to happen. Her father acted like this whenever she had brought a date home, during her time at high school and college. That had also been the reason why not one of the boys (and one time a girl; during a particular period of college, her father had still adopted the same behavior) had stayed.

Carter Senior was the kind of man who expected of Sam's partners to be ready to die for her. After college came the military academy, where the rule was to not fuck with the daughter of a general, no matter how attractive she was. Sam had kinda hoped Jacob would act differently this time, and given that she was a grownup woman, she did not need his approval.

He had still pulled his normal acting, but that quickly fell, when Joseph told him how he had pulled his daughter out of a burning car and then saved her life via intense first aid.

One year later something changed. Not with her ever more progressing relationship with Joseph, but politically. A sudden boom in technology rushed through the western world engulfed the rapidly expanding EU, the US, and Canada, as well as Japan and other modern nations.

The US had started to arm itself. That had already happened after the world trade center attacks and the invasion of Iraq, but nowhere near the extent it was done now. It seemed that every available dollar was being put into buying weapons and researching new technology. And it wasn't only the United states, that decided to prep up. It's allies did as well.

Germany, Japan and Italy acquired large nuclear weapon arsenals, while expanding their armies to near their WW2 sizes. The EU began to militarize, not only expanding it's rather meek rapid response forces, which consisted of about a dozen battlegroups each with a strength of about a thousand soldiers strong, to large army formations, each had tens of thousands of troops as well as hundreds of tanks and aircraft, but also specific command centers for each force to be able to act independently throughout the respective regions of the Unions territory. They also started the so called Blue Army initiative, in which large parts of the individual state armies would be put under the direct control of a newly formed European command staff.

Throughout the entire West, new conscription laws forced every capable man and women into the army. It went so far as to send teenagers as young as sixteen into army camps during their holidays. Huge protests and riots erupted, and were put down by the military, which now held large scale army maneuvers almost monthly.

Russia, China, India as well as several of the Middle Eastern and South American countries went even further by drafting children in their armies, while mass producing and stockpiling colossal amounts of arms and ammunition. And during the greatest Rearmament the world had ever seen, multiple times larger as even during the hottest times of the Cold War, strange things happened.

People started disappearing, terrorists attacks amassed to an insane degree and reported "UFO" sightings went through the roof.

And then Sam got pregnant.

She decided to leave the military the day she got the news. It a way she was lucky, because the passing of the Second Patriot Act had made leaving the armed forces next to impossible, especially for experienced pilots, tank commanders, and spec ops.

Two weeks later made Joseph her luckiest woman on earth by asking her the Question. She wasn't sure if it was her saying ,yes or her telling him of his two daughters, but it was too much for him. He asked her after waking up from the half hour long coma if her saying yes and him becoming a father had been wonderful or reality.

She had answered his question by putting one of his hands on her already slightly widened belly and allowing him to feel for himself. The very next moment he held her in a tight embrace and kissed her for what seemed like a lifetime before letting go of her and screaming his glee to the sky. A little discussion followed over how the marriage should be done, given that Joseph was a Protestant while Carter was Catholic, which ended in Carter winning as Joseph followed the wise directive to appease his pregnant fiancee, and they were husband and wife.

And now Sam was here, pregnant with twins in the seventh month, her husband at her side, both of them enjoying their honeymoon in Scotland.

"He's well, even returned to full service a month ago." she answered, her frown remaining on her face. "Despite me insisting he shouldn't. I mean he nearly died, he isn't ready for the stress of a general, especially with what has been happening lately!" Namely the partial mobilization of the US Army as well as the EU's Blue Army and the state armies. That had caused the Russian Federation and the Peoples Republic of China to mobilize as well, what made Japan and India to mobilize as well.

In the span of a week, everyone had their armies, air forces, navies, and in the case of the four superpowers USA, EU, China, and Russia, their enormous nuclear stockpiles, all readied.

"You know that he had no choice in the matter, like me." Joseph told her, and grimaced. The situation had also speared their plans for honeymoon.

They had originally intended to travel through all of Europe, where Fauxton would have shown his wife all the charming places, that he got to know on his numerous diplomatic trips to the continent starting in Glasgow. That had been cut short to two days in Scotland, before he had to travel to the European Union's seat of government in Brussels.

Sam was set to answer to that, when suddenly her mobile phone started to ring. She quickly pulled it out of her pockets, a short glance on the display telling her the person calling her was her father. "Hi Dad, what…."

"Samantha, are you alright? Where are you?"" interrupted her father her, sounding extremely concerned with a stressed voice.

"Eh, yes I am, I'm in a train on the way to Glasgow with Joseph." she answered, bewildered over his question.

"Why, what's the matter? Dad? Are you there?"

Instead of an answer heard she only frantic shouting on the other side of the phone. She could vaguely hear her father, demanding something she couldn't quite understand. This continued for a minute or two. She saw how Joseph shooting her a questioning look, which she could only answer with a confused shrug.

Jacob got finally back at the phone, breathing heavily. The noises on his side grew only louder while he spoke. "Sam, please, you have to get out of the train immediately! They are all over Britain! London, Edinburgh, Dover, they are hitting all big cities. The same is happening everywhere else! Sam you have…"

Something that sounded like an explosion deafened out the voice of Carter senior. The next moment were the unmistakable sounds of gunfire audible, as well as screams of people who were dying, together with inhuman roars. "Sammy..." came a pained voice out of the phone, "I love you."

With that was the phone line cut.

Samantha Fauxton Carter felt numbness take over her body. She tried frantically to phone her dad, but to no avail. She slowly raised her eyes and looked at her husband, seeing shock and disbelief in his face. Turning her face around to peer through the window, she now had a clear view of Glasgow.

Or rather, what had been Glasgow.

The entire city was set ablaze. Strange Objects, ranging in size from a dozen of meter to giants, comparable to the navies battle cruisers in size, floated over the burning city, raining green lights and yellow beams at what was below them.

Between in total six of these were hundreds of smaller UFO's, who either participated in the bombardment or engaged British and EU aircraft, annihilating some of Earth' finest fighter planes with ludicrous ease.

Sam faintly registered her husband shouting out, her eyes and attention trained on the green balls of light racing towards them. She felt Joseph slam against her back, forcing her to the floor, while throwing himself over her in a desperate attempt to cover her.

The next moment exploded the world around her.

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Sam screamed, ripping her purple glowing eyes open, her hands shooting down to the adamantium blades at her belt.

A psionic surge shoot through her body, paralyzing her senses and thought. The trained psi knight broke through the paralysis with only minor difficulties, drawing the two adamantium swords in one thousands of times practiced motion.

Only then she realized her surroundings. She was no longer on the train, where her Husband and her two unborn daughters died, taken from her by the Xenos during that day, the one which would forever be remembered by Terrankind as The Day when the old world died and the war for survival started.

Before her stood an about two meter twenty tall Terran. His combat knife, that he had used to block her swords, as well as the high tech Power armor he wore, indicated, that she had just attacked a soldier, most likely a trooper of one of the various Terran guard legions.

A considerable length away from the two stood a small crowd of people, mostly civilians, but she could also recognize a couple of security personal, who nervously aimed their pulse and laser rifles at her.

"Are you okay?" a voice asked and Carter needed a couple of seconds to realize it belonged to the man in front of her.

She nodded slowly and shoved her weapons back into the their sheaths, before slumping down at the bank on which she had fallen asleep, while cupping her face applying a bit of psionic energy to ease her headache. She felt how the Terran slowly sat himself besides her, and she opened her exhausted eyes to stare at the object he pulled out of a pocket.

It was a tube, with had the words 'Anti-PTSD' written on a label. The bottle was from Med-Tech, a somewhat large corporation which made much of it's credits from treating the countless mental scars and wounds left on the few survivors of the eight years long hell, otherwise known as the War for Survival.

She took the tube without a word and sprayed the narcotic liquid in her mouth. Her Terran body would have the drug purged of her system in half an hour, but that was enough time for her to banish the nightmares filling every non conscious minute of her existence. All back into darkest hole in her mind, from where they would crawl out again in the foreseeable future.

She muttered a couple of quick thanks and returned the now completely empty tube to it's owner.

"Sooo." the trooper said, and gestured at the white armor she was wearing, as well as the cape with the big red cross on it. It was a symbol that showed she was one those that had fought in the Eighth Crusade against the Xenos. "You are a Templar, aren't you? Are you on your pilgrimage? I heard you guys do that regularly."

She sighed, feeling another headache on the way.

"No." she answered, "I'm not on my pilgrimage. On the contrary, I am planning to use to travel to Terra Nova. The Ecclessia Militante and all members of the knight orders in the second echelon or higher are to attend."

She herself wasn't in picture of what was going on. The last time something had caused such movement in the Ecclessia, especially in her military branches, had been the assassination of Pope Franziscus through a group of Vipers thirteen years ago. The event had pushed the New Asian Federation and the free Mars republics, who housed the sole surviving race of the alien alliance that had ravished Terra four decades ago, at the brink of war with the Terran empire, the faction which had risen of the ashes of the American continents, Europe, Russia, and Africa.

The authoritarian superpower had vowed to unite all of humanity under it's ruthless dictator, in order to be prepared for the inevitable return of the Xenos. It had been in a cold war with the democracies in the East and on Mars against the Terran empire, reigning over the devastated continents of Europe, the Americas, and Africa.

It was a true irony of history, this new cold war between East and West. From the view of someone of the "old" world it may have seemed like the Terran empire would have a truly dominating edge over the NAF, especially given the overwhelming amount of psi operatives, territory and especially space ships it possessed.

The larger amount of psi warriors originated from the Templars and project Nightfall.

The Templars, fervent champions of the Lord, in exchange for their complete deviation to Christ, had been gifted with tremendous psionic abilities. They had enabled the broken Europeans and Russians to continue the fight against the Xeno invasion, after coordination and will to fight had been nearly annihilated. Following the fall of Brussels, Sankt Petersburg, as well as the Xeno forces finally breaching the Verdun and Berendino defenses and assaulting Paris and Moscow, resulting in Street fighting. The sheer intensity could only be compared with the battle of Stalingrad, or more recently the fall of London, the destruction of Tokyo, the downfall at Beijing, the hell of New York, and the last stand in Rome.

While the losses of the Xenos could not be compared to the hundreds of millions of human martyrs, the nightmarish fighting had also taken a heavy toll at the alien forces. The costly victories at Verdun and Berendino had only been achieved by pulling most of their forces out of Asia, where victory had been achieved in the first three years of the war. Leaving the Vipers back in Asia to oversee the process of turning the populace into drones by control chips, and than to change them into what would ironically be the first version of the Terrans.

The forces becoming free in Asia were split, with the largest force being sent against the Ural defense in order to force the Russians to divert soldiers to it's rear. The second largest force was sent to the United States, where the Xenos advance had not only been stalled but fully stopped after suffering multiple defeats at the hand of the Americans.

The third force was sent to Europe. They were to reverse their earlier defeats, to regain lost territory after being forced out of Wales, Scotland and Italy, following humanity's victory at Rome.

These two victories had been possible through the first two Terran knight orders. The Templar order, who had defeated the alien menace in Naples using psi powers, freed the besieged city of Rome after gathering tens of thousands of followers, before the Ethereals were able to close their grip around the Vatican.

And in the Vatican, or better what of it remained, they found the greatest treasure of them all, his holy Pope Franziscus himself together with the survivors of the Swiss guard, who had fought heroically to protect citizen of Rome who had searched for shelter in the cathedrals and churches of the Vatican.

They had, like the Templars, gained psionic abilities. In fact throughout the world had dedicated priests and monks, Mullahs and Imams, Rabbis and Reverends slowly awoken psionic powers, but few were able to use them in combat. In Wales at the same time, a certain resistance group been able to achieve success. The Knights of the Round. The same resistance group, that Samantha had joined and never left.

She remembered those times. After giving birth to two lifeless bodies, dead from the impacts of being wildly thrown around, when the Xenos had bombarded the train, she had sought death. Death, and revenge.

She had joined several militias, surviving their inevitable destruction. Joining resistance cells and surviving their ends when they were inexorably stomped by superior alien forces was soon the norm.

She had heard rumors of a supposed save haven, protected by God, and untouchable for the aliens. A laughable rumor at the time, it's insanity only reinforced by the claims that the defenders of that safe haven mostly fought with swords and that it was protected by a God, she had stopped believing in, when she buried the corpses of her two daughters, who never had even a chance to live.

And yet she joined them, after stumbling over one of their ambushed scout parties.

When she first saw Camelot, she saw a mess of a city, made out the simplest of materials and the remains of the countless Xeno vessels, torn apart by the Ancient weapons stored in the truly huge cave system. Below was the actual Camelot.

Those weapons made Camelot indeed near untouchable for Alien incursions from air. So great that was, it also caused the Xenos to attack with other means.

She took the tube without a word and sprayed the narcotic liquid in her mouth. Her Terran body would have the drug purged of her system in a half hour, but that was enough time for her to banish the nightmares filling every non conscious minute of her existence. All back into darkest hole in her mind, from where they would crawl out again in the foreseeable future.

She muttered a quick thanks and returned the now completely empty tube to its owner.

"Sooo." the trooper said, gesturing at the white armor she was wearing, as well as the cape with the big red cross on it. It was a symbol showing she was one those who had fought in the Eighth Crusade against the Xenos. "You are a Templar, aren't you? Are you on your pilgrimage? I heard you guys do that regularly."

She sighed, feeling another headache on the way.

"No." she answered, "I'm not on my pilgrimage. On the contrary, I am planning to use the gate to travel to Terra Nova. The Ecclessia Militante and all members of the knight orders in the second echelon or higher are to attend."

She herself wasn't in the know if what was going on. The last time something had caused such movement in the Ecclessia, especially in her military branches, had been the assassination of Pope Franziscus because a group of vipers thirteen years ago. It had pushed the New Asian Federation and the Free Mars Republics, who housed the sole surviving race of the alien alliance that had ravished Terra four decades ago, at the brink of war with the Terran empire, that had risen of the ashes of the American continents, Europe, Russia and Africa.

She closed her eyes and concentrated, gaining entrance to the Ultra net, checking the news.

"Hm." she thought while hundreds of images flashed through her brain. Nothing really important happened, except some apparent incidents on some of the outer colonies. A group of teenagers, barely in their mid twenties, claimed to have seen some UFO's. As far as the article stated it, the orbital defense platforms as well as the warships covering the level two colony had detected nothing, but the military investigated the matter nonetheless. On a more personal level, was she delighted to read sword sister Amelia's message, a psiblade of the order like her, whom she sparred and chatted with from time to time, had finally managed to impregnate her wife.

But with the exception of the news, nothing real notable was in her Psi-Mail, and she quickly left it and instead accessed Google, one of the few surviving corporations of the old world. She did not expect to find anything about the reasons for the templar meeting in the Ultranet, but instead looked up when the gate would dial Terra Nova.

"Guess I can keep talking with you for the next thirty minutes." she said to the Terran beside her. "My name is Samantha Carter, Knight of the templar order, servant of the holy Ecclessia, second echelon, and you are?"

"My name is Charles Kawalski, Major of the Eighth Corps of the First Guard legion." he answered, clearly proud of that fact.

"The Eighth Corps of the First, wait... were you one of those who defected from the Empire eighteen years ago?" Carter asked, clearly surprised by that information.

"Well yes." said he before smiling cheekily and ramming one of his thumbs against his chest, "To be more exact, I am one of the bad boys who helped O'Neill storming the Imperial Palace, to bring down that bastard Kinsey!"

"Wait did you actually meet the legend himself? The hero of Terra, O'Neill?"

Kawalski grinned upon hearing the question. "If not only met him, I am his best bud! Let me tell you from when he and I went to Stargate and made the first Xeno kills in history."

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Medusa yawned loudly, showing her large poison fangs to the world, while tiredly rubbing her half closed eyes.

"Rough night?" someone asked, before placing a cup of coffee on the table before her.

The young viper muffled a yes, took the cup and drained it down her maw in one go. The fluid quickly went in effect and even managed to partially wake her up.

"Thanks Allen." she said to white haired man beside her. "So has anything remarkable happened?"

"Nothing too big. Some tourists from Mars brought some funny substances with them so the Captain had a little 'talk' with them." he answered, slightly turning his head to the stern woman staring at the monitors. Currently they showed the two Terrans who, judging from the civilian armor and armament they wore, were most likely military. Not that it was a rule or anything like that, but military people, especially those in the guard legions and those who lived through the war for survival, tended to always wear armor even when they were off duty.

Medusa could understand it though; enduring the most brutal war that earth had ever witnessed gave many of them rather persistent paranoia... And chronic PTSD.

"Wow, they actually brought illegal drugs through the gate? Were they already stoned?" That had to be pretty powerful stuff, considering how insanely resistant the Terran body was to any form of poison.

"You bet!" Allen said, laughing. "They were. But believe me, they were back to reality quite fast! But you lucked out! These guys completely averted her attention from the fact you had overslept."

The Viper exhaled in relief at that news. To be honest, she had been terrified of the tirade she had expected to receive from Mary.

"Anything else besides that?"

"Well yes, there was an incident involving a Templar a couple of minutes ago, and it did look like it would turn ugly. But luckily the problem got defused already."

"Templar, huh." Medusa shifted uneasily. She had a couple of unpleasant meetings with these xenophobic fanatics in the past, and well, she wasn't looking forward to meet another one.

"Don't worry Med, she seems rather nice…. For a templar." Allen assured his friend, who now sat herself with some trouble on the chair beside her.

"So…." she began, a bit confused. "Is someone important coming from Terra Nova?"

"Wha…?" Before Allen could even finish the first word he noticed what she had meant. Something was going on with the gate.

Someone was dialing in.

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"Wait you surrendered to Goa'uld?" Samantha asked skeptically.

"Well yeah." Kawalski answered. "You see, the 'never surrender, fight to your death' tactic of the Survival War wasn't a thing back then, and the movie adaptation was horrible inaccurate."

To give Ruben Steelbel credit, he had done his best with the scarce information he had. While the first Stargate mission was no longer a secret to the public, nearly all of the information about it had been lost during the war, and then the troubled times of the aftermath years that eventually led to the rise of the Terran empire. O'Neill himself had not even bothered with the movie, his aversion to the public was legendary.

Only three persons knew where Jack lived. He, Feretti and for some reason Melbourne had been entrusted with that knowledge. He didn't like Melbourne, but since it was him who had informed Jack of what had been going on with the assassination of Pope Franziskus and subsequently Kinsey's death through Jack's hands, he was sure he could trust Melbourne.

.

.

.

.

.

No, he was not sure he would never trust that snake.

"Really, I must confess I watched the movie. What was wrong?"

"Really, and here I thought that the knights of the templar order did nothing but pray all day." Kawalski joked.

"No." Sam plainly stated, while rolling her eyes. "Ora et labora is the way of the monks and nuns. The templar follow et pugna preasidio. We are allowed to have fun which doesn't circle around sending Xenos to hell."

"Oh, is that so? Well I actually meant that as a joke." he told her, slightly embarrassed. He was about to continue, when he heard the familiar sounds of the Stargate dialing.

"Huh? They're too early. The gate was supposed to dial Terra Nova only in about ten minutes. Or is my watch malfunctioning?" he asked himself, glancing at the old thing.

It was nothing fancy like the intelligent things the youth carried around these days, devices which told them all possible things and had multiple mods and forms, but a relict of the old world made out of gold. Not that that really meant anything. Asteroid mining as well as large founds on terra's colonies reduced golds worth basically to nothingness.

What the watch had however, was a lot of personal importance to him as it was one of the few things left of his family. It had belonged to his Mother, who had perished when the hell started. His father had died two months later at the Chicago front, fighting despite his age. He never found out what happened to his girlfriend, but he figured long ago she was dead too.

With a WUUSSCHH the gate opened and the arrivals caused both Kawalski and Samantha jump up.

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Mary Humbler sighed in annoyance, as she observed how a bunch of people in stylized snake armors came through the gate and took stance before it, not twenty meters away from crowd of Terrans. "Oh, it's one of those days again. Ellie tell these cosplayers they are about to get in serious trouble for this stunt.

 **I hope you enjoyed it. If that is the case leave a favourite or a review.**

 **Until next time General AllenWalker out.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Terra's Destiny: Rise of an Empire**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Hello folks, welcome to another chapter of terra´s destiny. Please enjoy the read and if you think something is particularly bad or good, be so kind and write in a review. That would help a relative new writer like me immensely.**

 **Thunder18: I am glad that you liked it**

 **Guest 1: See the problem is this is not only a crossover with XCOM but also with Alien and but that is pretty late in the story star wars.**

 **Guest 2: Well the different order are vast Paramilitary organizations under the direct control of the Ecclesia. There are beside the orders under the Ecclesia also multiple Muslim and Buddhist ones, but they are not as large. Jack, well, you´ll see.**

 **Davycrockett100: Nice**

Carter cursed rather colorfully while taking cover behind the bank, on which she had sat only moments ago. Things had gone downhill very fast; the newcomers coming through the gate, who were definitely not cosplayers, had abruptly risen their unwieldy looking staffs and opened up on the crowd of people.

Ripping out her Plasma Pistol, she immediately returned fire, hitting one of the armored men directly in the chest, burning a fist sized hole through where a humans, Terran's or Viper's left lung would be.

Five more of the attackers fell when Kawalski, together with security personal and other civvies (most likely soldiers in civil outfits) opened fire on the idiots, who stood like sitting dogs at the entrance of the gate. They were still gunning down civilians, instead shooting the people who actually had guns and posed a threat.

Flashbacks rushed through the Templar's mind, of scenes oddly reminiscent of what was happening here. When Xenos exacted terror attacks on defenseless villages and cities during the War for Survival. Instead of firing on resistance fighters or human soldiers, they had concentrated their attention on slaughtering as many of the defenseless and innocent as possible, even if that often meant they themselves were killed by armed combatants present.

That tendency displayed by the Xenos led to the creation of the so called Redeeker-Plan, named after the Iberian officer who had come up with it. The plan involved deliberately sending refugees and civilians that were unfit for combat or factory work into war zones to be butchered. Mercilio Redeeker was executed by the Inquisition after the war ended, a just punishment for his actions.

 _With the exception that these guys are tame compared to hordes of the Ethereals!_ She thought, while continuing to shoot the Jaffa streaming out of the gate.

Quickly looking around to assess the situation, she saw that besides her and Kawalski, about dozen men and women of the security force and five civilians hide behind various forms of cover, some more effective than others. All while unloading their own firearms in the general direction of the hostiles, who despite several causalities, took more and more ground, equally making room for their reinforcements arriving through the gate and pushing the defenders back.

Three security guards had already been hit in the relatively short shootout and one of the civilians had received a clean shoot into the face. To make matters worse, the security staff was only equipped with beam and laser rifles; while more accurate, thy had a significantly weaker punch compared to even the plasma pistols used by her and Kawalski, and thus needed multiple hits to penetrate the strange armor the Jaffa wore.

Well, she assumed that the guys in the snake costumes were Jaffa, as their equipment matched pretty much what the military intelligence said about them.

Staff blasts slammed into the bank, evaporating much of her cover and forcing her to move. Concentrating the focus she collected by shooting three of the Jaffa into her hand, she dodged another plasma bolt and unleashed a psionic bolt against three enemies who were taking cover behind a tourist shop. The close proximity they had to one another allowed the purple lightning to jump over and fry all of their minds at once.

Not that the veteran Templar responsible for it donated any attention to their deaths, as she sprinted to the next cover.

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Everyone in the surveillance center stared at the scenes being displayed on the multiple holographic screens in shock. They couldn't believe what they were seeing was actually happening.

"OKAY SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Everyone flinched at hearing Mary yelling, and turned to her. Fury and anger were clearly visible on her face.

"Jean, report to the nearest garrison, tell them we have a beachhead situation. Franz, you are the most capable non combat psionic here, link up to high command and show them what is happening." she turned her gaze on the rest of the Terrans and Vipers, who had been her friends and colleges for years. "Everyone else gets combat equipment and follow me. It looks like we finally can use the plasma armament in our arsenal. We have xenos on terra's soil" she showed a murderous grin, "and I think it is only polite to show them our hospitality!"

The grin only widened when she used her psionics to unlock the weapons room and the opening doors showed the security tools, that were reserved for "special" occasions. Occasions like Alien invasions.

Before them were rows after rows filled with exoskeletons, combat suits, all kinds of grenades, and plasma weaponry. The perfect tools for throwing a surprise party.

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Medusa scowled, trying to clasp the Viper knight armor over her body. She was having trouble activated the last parts, they were so hard to do by oneself. She yelped when she felt someone touching her back, and took care of the difficult to reach shards for her.

Twisting her scaly form, she looked directly into the silver eyes of Allen. The young man himself had clad himself into a Mk 3 Guardian armor, a combat suit that equally granted mobility and protection from hazardous things like plasma fire. He pushed a plasma rifle into her hands, while grabbing another one for himself. Gesturing towards the others who were already ready, they both hurried up and ran to the fifteen strong group, the men and women now heavily armed.

"Bill, after me you have the most combat experience, you lead the second group. I'll take myself, Jake, Allen and Paul, you take everybody else and attack them from the front!" she ordered and smiled, seeing no protest. "I'll and my group will surprise attack from behind through a psionic hole. We'll catch them between two fires. For Terra!"

"FOR TERRA!" all others screamed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Carter, Kawalski and two survivors of the security personnel were all who could still return fire. The last civilian, who had also stuck with them, had died when he tried to make run for it. He only made it halfway to the doors of the wide hall they were in, before one of the Jaffa shot him through the legs, and another one shortly afterwards in the head.

The Stargate had deactivated, finally putting an end to the Jaffa, but it didn't make any difference anymore. With only four defenders left, the approximately thirty strong group of hostiles had no trouble laying suppression fire upon them, while a couple Jaffa flanked them from both sides.

To make matters worse, Sam's and Kawalski's weapons had run out of ammo, and they had to pick up the weapons from the security guards.

00

To say that Teal'c was having a bad day was more than an understatement. He had been given the dishonorable task to accompany and guard his god Apophis. His false God.

A couple of days ago a group of scholars finally capable of opening one of Ra's caches that held various gate dates which had been lost after the Supreme Lord's death. That wouldn't normally be a reason for Apophis to visit these new worlds in person; this time however he decided to come along, after he heard that one of the gate addresses had been confirmed to be the one of Tau'ri, the legendary birth place of humanity, and by extent the Jaffa as well.

He had steeled his mind and conscience for another slaughter of innocent humans, of capturing new slaves for the false god, all while hoping they wouldn't find anything, with luck the gate would be far away from any civilization. All so he wouldn't have to do the dastardly deeds which he so despised.

The supreme overseer had pleaded for the System Lord to stay away from this planet, telling him that it was most likely buried. For a moment Teal'c had hoped Apophis would listen to the human; while the Overseer was only a human slave, like billions of others in the false god's empire, he bore the responsibility for saving his empire in the chaotic times of the return of and Sokar's grand conquest. One had new technologies and weapons, the other had numbers behind imagination. But Apophis hadn't listened.

And it seemed like the tyrant would now pay for his arrogance.

Through myriad of purple lightning that impacted on his orange force field, he could see a dozen people storm through the entrances of the strange building they found themselves. In an almost instinctual move, he trained his staff on the woman before him, one who cut through his fellow Jaffa with ease, and shot before she could claim more of his brothers lives.

Teal'c saw her slumping down, half of her chest being a burnt mess from the staff blast. Ripping his staff up, he sent golden balls of energy towards the arriving reinforcements. With growing concern her noticed that despite numerous hits, nothing seemed to pierce the advanced looking armor shielding his adversaries.

His brothers on the other hand did not seem to have that luck, as green light ripped through them, ignoring any cover, armor or flesh.

"Span out, keep moving!" ordered the First Prime in a calm voice, despite entire barrages of plasma exploding against his shield. Again and again fired he his staff, and finally one of their armored opponents fell, but it was nothing compared to the rapid pace to which the Jaffa were being cut down.

Yelling out a warning, he pulled out a shock grenade a threw them in the direction of the now openly advancing humans. Immediately after the device left his hand, he squeezed his eyes shut.

A bright light, together with a mind crumbling sound boomed in the small space. Despite the protection offered by his suit and the relative large distance between himself and the grenade, Teal'c felt his conscious fade. Fortunately it stopped after a couple of seconds, allowing him to open his eyes again.

The majority of the attackers were lying unconscious on the ground, and the few who weren't were disoriented, unable to return fire. With two exceptions.

One man had the luck to stand just far enough from the grenade's epicenter to escape the paralyzing effect. He had picked up one of his fallen comrades weapons to fired at the Jaffa before him. The other warrior still resisting was something that Teal'c had never seen before. Something that resembled a large snake, which had also recovered from the effects of the grenade, and was firing voraciously at the surviving Jaffa, forcing them to take cover once again.

"Don't kill them!" Apophis suddenly ordered, stepping forward into view. Both the snake and the human noticed, aiming at him but holding their fire.

Opening the helmet of his golden armor, the System Lord presented his face to the valiant defenders.

"Human! Great Serpent! Halt your resistance!" Yelled the Goa'uld in the tongue of the slaves, with a powerful voice and glowing eyes. Interestingly enough, they followed his order. "You fought bravely, as such I shall be merciful and will allow you to surrender and become my slaves, to become servants of the great god Apophis! You should me honored by my offer!"

The snake and warrior exchanged looks and suddenly exploded in frantic laughter. A sense of bewilderment inhabited the Goa'uld and his Jaffa as they watched. After a minute the human seemed to gain back control over his features and, with bemusement clearly visible on his face, answered.

"Ha, ah thanks for the joke mate. It is nice to met a xeno with a sense of humor!" Any sign of bemusement vanished instantly and instead was replaced by smile as cold as space. His eyes erupted in purple light and everything went dark for Teal'c.

The black quickly faded, and gave way for terrifying images and scenes. Pictures of this human together with other ones fighting demon like entities, monstrous creatures ripping through them with plasma armament, and squashed the head of the wounded under their feet. The air was polluted with the sick smell of burnt flesh, the screams of the dying were all around him.

The humans formations were shattering, with many breaking down in panic or fleeing. But in this hell of blood, death and slaughter, there were a few who didn't panic or retreat. They circled around one man, a warrior that was superior to all others. The deadly plasma seemed to magically miss him, while in return he felled beast after beast, shooting lethal green spheres from a construct in his right hand, and delivering purple devastation with nothing but his mind.

Suddenly all the fighting stopped. The men, women, and even children, who had dropped their weapons and had cowardly fled, picked their arms up and rejoined the fight, while the demons broke away and ran away, their expressions filled with fear.

A white haired figure had appeared. Black energy surrounded his body, just a moment later hundreds of beams of pure darkness carved through the fleeing demons. Together with similar but purple attacks predominantly from the gray haired warrior who stood his ground, but also from others, the monsters were utterly decimated. Men and woman, who had crosses painted on their faces and clothing, only armed with crude melee weapons, stormed forward and engaged the rapidly diminishing hordes in brutal combat, leaving countless dead.

More images flashed in front of him. They showed more battles, each one more gruesome than the last. Something, maybe an instinct, told him to break out of these visions and to move, or he would die. He gathered all of his concentration and began something he had learned from his old master Bray'tac and the overseer. He started to mediate, to calm down.

Pain exploded around him and set his nerves aflame. Agony as if his intestines were dragged out with glowing hooks, but through that pain the Jaffa could feel his plan was a success.

With one last monumental effort, he broke away from whatever force had overtaken his mind and returned to the real world – only to see a purple blade racing towards his face. Utilizing his lightning fast reflexes, attained from rigorous training undertaken by him since his early teens, he managed to move his head far enough to dodge the lethal attack. He registered a sharp pain when the energy construct cut through his left cheek, shredding a good part of his serpent guard helmet.

Simultaneously while dodging, he balled his hand into a fist and punched the blonde woman in her large chest wound, one she had somehow survived. He involuntary flinched upon hearing her agonized shriek when his fist connected, and promptly sank nearly two centimeters into the ruined flesh. A smell, recognizable from his visions, forced itself into his nose, thanks to his face bring partly exposed to the air.

The female's energy swords disappeared as she tumbled back before she caught herself again, then was promptly hit by the discharge of Teal'c's staff. This, combined with her grievous injury, proved finally enough to knock her out.

Teal'c regretfully intended to end the threat she posed, aiming his staff at her. But as he began to fire, he was suddenly torn away. His brain faintly recognized something fleshy had slung itself around his right arm, and in the next moment he was captured in a bone crushing embrace.

He fought as could as he could against the serpent wrapped around him, but it was of no use, it was just too strong. Behind it's in armor clad body he could see how the remaining numbers of his brothers were slaughtered by a second group of enemies, arriving through some kind of purple portal.

But there were two exceptions: protected by his personal shield, Apophis hastily dialed the Chappa'ai, while joined by a second Jaffa, who was also capable of freeing himself of whatever these vision were. He had picked up the blonde woman that nearly killed Teal'c, and was using her as a living shield against the humans, by now having killed every other invading Jaffa.

The next moment several things happened. The Chappa'ai activated with a _whoosh_ , and together with the Jaffa, Apophis backed towards it. Countless pillars of purple light speared through the roof of whatever building they were in; out of every one of these pillars several figures materialized, humans and serpents alike. One individual, from the first group of humans ambushed by the Jaffa, saw that Apophis and his single remaining guard were distracted by the arrival of the reinforcements. They used the chance to attempt to pounce on the Jaffa.

Said young warrior swiftly dodged the attack, and the human instead crashed into Apophis, pushing the both of them through the blue vortex.

Seeing that, the snake slowly choking the life out of him yelled something, most likely the name of the unfortunate warrior, released him and raced towards the active ring. The creature reached it just a second after the last honor guard and their lone prisoner stepped through the shimmering surface. One of the humans tried to stop the serpent, but to no avail.

But Teal'c did not see that any longer. He slumped unconscious to the ground, the mental assaults of countless combat psionics being more than enough to wear even the veteran Jaffa out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Somewhere on the North American continent, Terra..._

A small trail of smoke rose from the campfire, snaking upwards into the night sky. Though the fire was already dead, the remaining heat in the cinders were more than enough to fry the fish in the crude metal pan poised over the pit.

Behind the dying fire sat a man, serenely enjoying his meal. Something however caused the man to pause.

He had a feeling, a sense he couldn't identify, which told him something significant had just happened. Something that would cause major changes in the times to come.

The man sighed, knowing that it meant he would probably have to return to fight once more. Taking some cold water, leftovers from his earlier shower, he pitched it into the cinders, extinguishing all heat remaining in the pit.

"And I've grown such a nice beard, too! Guess who they sent to me this time? Some agent most likely! A smartass with a stick so far up his rear it tickles his shoulders."

Another heavy and long sign left him.

"Who am I kidding? It'll be Maybourne."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The city of Hope was practically sprawling from activity. That might be expected from the capital of the Terran Federation, but this was extraordinary even for the "jewel of Terra".

Military officers, countless MEP's from the seventy plus colonies located throughout Federation space, as well multiple figures and representatives from various organizations, ranging from interstellar companies to independent paramilitary groups (mostly mercenaries), that acted as escorts to their wealthy and powerful employers.

Anywhere else, the close proximity of so many groups with differing (and often conflicting interests) might lead to trouble, but not here in Hope. It was a place holy to each and every Terran, reserved for the highest and most honorable echelons of Terran society.

But the true heart of Terra's grandest city was not the massive metropolis, spanning many kilometers over Antarctica's surface, it was much more what laid beneath the ice. Five miles under the surface was a second, or better said, the actual city of Hope. Discovered by the Americans mere months before Doomsday, it resisted eight years of grueling siege, and had ultimately delivered the technology needed to achieve victory.

But the grand history of this place, constructed by the Ancients, was not what occupied Ben Avura's mind as he marched through the corridors towards his intended destination. Linking his mind with the doors, they opened immediately to allow him entry to a white passageway, through which he walked without hesitation.

He felt the genetic sensors sweep through his body, the energy behind the millions of radiation rays that checked every single cell, every little piece of DNA within him to assure he was, who he pretended to be. He was fully aware the harmless sensor radiation washing over him would change in mere nanoseconds to deadly alpha waves if only one inconsistency was found, but he wasn't bothered by the fact. It was by far not the first time that he went through such security measures, and he was used to the somewhat unpleasant tingling which accompanied it.

Suddenly the tingling sensation vanished, and the second door at the end of the corridor clicked at began to open.

"Welcome Mister President." greeted him a melodic voice. "The others have already arrived, and are waiting."

"They're already here? All six of them?" Ben Avura asked, a little bit surprised.

"Yes we are." announced an annoyed sounding woman standing right before the opening security gate, instead of the AI. The woman was pretty small by Terran standards, barely reaching a height of 1.8 meters, making her by far the smallest of the six Terrans present. Her rather small stature however, did nothing to diminish the absolute authority she radiated. "To be exact, we waited for two hours so get your ass in here ASAP!"

Avura signed at her disrespectful demeanor, not that her attitude was unexpected. Theresa von Strache, the Grand Admiral of the First Fleet, never made a secret that she held him in low regard. She had voiced her negative opinion on him multiple times in media and the ultranet during his election campaign, never missing an opportunity to criticize him or his policies.

But her campaign against him backfired, and served to only reinforce his decision to favor the economy over Terra's truly massive military. Avura wanted to ensure people outside of the core worlds and in the inner systems could live as prosperous lives as the inhabitants of the Sol system or the prime sector, and find work outside of the armed forces.

His policies made him beloved by about anyone but the militarists, who heavily criticized his decision to not increase the military by the same extent as previous governments had. Time and time again he had prioritized infrastructure projects over the construction of yet another battleship or carrier, believing the current fleet to be sufficient. Too bad that it now seemed to come back to bite him.

Fortunately were the other residents in the room, who were far friendlier towards him (or at least indifferent). Pope Clement XV nodded to him, and his Islamic Counterpart Sahin mirrored this, which caused Avura to relax greatly. As powerful as the military was in the political sphere, they had yet to reach the enormous influence the Ecclesia and the reformed Islamic Church held.

On the other side was his own good friend Nathan Blest, the chosen supreme representative of the inner, mid and outer systems. Beside him was also the sole non-Terran, Queen Natorious Slenka, ruler of the Viper species and elected representative of the prime colony of Mars. Her nearly six meter long golden body made out a large part of the room, and was clad in resplendent purple clothing.

And then at the last was Field Marshall Xi, commander of the military staff. Of all the people present, he held by far the most neutral expression, mirroring his legendary calmness and ability to always see the bigger picture.

Avura put considerable effort in getting as much information as possible out of the six individuals in this room, since each one of them possessed enough power and influence to throw the Federation into civil war.

However, he didn't think that Nathan, who was not only a good friend of his and the main supporter for his presidency campaign, would undertake such actions; particularly when one observed his relatively peaceful policy to undermine any separatist efforts, especially in the outer systems. Unlike his predecessors, he did not suppress such endeavors through military and police forces, but instead allowed them to fulfill their wishes by allowing them greater autonomy, and showing just how it would hurt their economic situation if they would fully split off the constantly expanding Federation.

Then there was Grand Imam Sahin Abdul. Avura doubted he would cause any trouble; Abdul was the head of the reformed Islamic church and the spiritual leader of nearly twelve billion Muslims in the Terran Federation, and universally seen as a man of peace second only to the Dalai Lama. He was one of the founders of the Asian Federation, which merged together with the free Mars republics into the Terran Federation in order to oppose the Terran Empire, which had formed out of Ecclasiarchal Europe and the Free American Empire.

The same could be said about Field Marshall Xi Wan. He was the commanding general of the Federations armies that not only repulsed Alien occupation in the Southeast Asian uprising, the largest uprising ever seen, but also retook former India, Australia, Japan, and Siberia from the warlords who arose from the ashes of civilization after the Fall.

With Natorious he was unsure however. The serpent held two titles: Monarch of the Viper race, and elected representative of Mars, the largest colony of the Federation. With over seven billion inhabitants, three fourths of which were Vipers, the red planet was the largest rival to Terra's thirteen billion strong population. The reptilian species was an important part of the Federation as a whole; even with extensive breeding programs and a higher fertility rate, the War For Survival left scars that simply couldn't be repaired with any haste. Despite the enormous recovery since then (a 500 percent recovery in fact), the freed Viper race were still too important to sideline.

Then there were the two people who actually filled Terra's president with concern.

Pope Clement, head of the Ecclesia, and the man who represented the nearly 19 billion Christians in the Terran Federation. The Ecclesia itself was the combined protestant, catholic, and orthodox churches, as well as numerous smaller confessions from the American continent, who united to one single church for the entire Christian faith. Christianity had already taken up a good share of the worlds population before Armageddon, but a combination of the war itself, the clear favoritism of Christians in the Empire, as well as the ability of powerful psionics to talk to the consciousness of the dead caused them, Islam and Buddhism to explode.

The Catholic Church had called for a crusade during the War For Survival, and the other confessions quickly joined. They carried on fighting after Xeno infiltration caused the Russian and the EU governments to collapse, and quickly became a sort of meta-state, ruling the European continent until they united with the Free American empire and the Terran empire. The Church continued to hold colossal power and influence in the Empire, where Christianity became the state religion. That was a fortunate turn of events, as the Ecclesia would use this to prevent the Empire from starting any war against the Federation, and ultimately was responsible for it's downfall. As the Empire deployed it's own massive military forces against the regimes remnants after information got out, that not the Vipers but Imperator Kinsey had been responsible for the assassination of Pope, now Saint, Franziskus.

And the there was the biggest concern of them all. Grand Admiral Theresia von Strache. Once, she was the head of the military of some old war nation named Germany. She was also the sole reason why mainland Europe, unlike Asia, didn't fall to the Ethereal menace. Her military genius was unmatched in the entire Federation. She'd been born an albino, and had had a fragile body, before she had left her humanity behind all together behind and became one of the Empire's first Terrans.

After the fall of the nation states in Europe she, like many other officers, joined forces with the Crusaders, the last sizable organized force in Eurasia still resisting alien tyranny, and became a major figure not only in the Ecclesia's (and later the Empire's), military where she dominated, but also in the politics of both. Her sheer tactical skill and prestige made her very, very dangerous.

With a sigh Avura sat down at the for him reserved seat.

"I am sure we all are aware of the reason for this meeting?" he asked rhetorically. Of course they knew the whole story; it spread like a wildfire through the ultranet, so even places like Satella or Orim in the outer systems had taken notice of it within an hour.

"Of course!" scoffed Von Strache. "Your administration caused an incident with the Gate that allowed xenos to set foot on Terra itself!"

Avura frowned. "Excuse me? How is an alien attack through the Gate _my_ fault?"

"Well." answered the Grand Admiral, smirking darkly. "Who was the one that put the gate out of the military's control? I observed the videos of event quite thoroughly. Where were our Mechs, static defenses, the task force of guard troopers ready to annihilate any foe? Where were the defense measures, which I helped to create? I don't think you caused this, but it was your administration which brought the Gate under the oversight of civilian agencies, just because it helped the economy, and by doing so leaving it inadequately protected! What if instead of handful of xenos, an entire invasion army stormed through?"

"Then they would've been wiped out by reinforcements arriving from all of Sol!" Avura countered, clearly angered by the accusation. "Terra itself in no way under any sort of danger! Even I, as an amateur in military tactics, am aware of that! The 'impenetrable defense' you designed delayed any commercial use of the Gate!"

"Mister President, Grand Admiral, please." interrupted Pope Clement. "What happened is in the past and out of our control, we have more pressing matters at hand I believe."

"Oh as if this is any relieve for those who died because off…" she stopped her own rant and instead sat down on her seat, an upset expression on her face. President Avura mirrored her actions and signaled the Pope to continue.

Clemens nodded thankfully to them and began talking.

"The situation seems to be contained at the moment, but we should not underestimate the danger. The attack and losses may have been small, but I sought to remind those present that similar sized attacks from from the Ethereals marked the beginning of Armageddon. I have no doubt that Dark times lay ahead of us. I have contacted by many concerned Cardinals, who report growing fear among many of the followers. I ordered them to calm the populace down, but without further information over this new enemy we are bound. I was contacted by Grand Imam Sahin who told me of a similar situation on his end. As bad as it is here, it's worse in the outer colonies. Those communities lack the fortifications and armies of the core and the inner systems, and I received numerous requests to deploy the Knights of Michael and the Order of Johannes to shield those poor souls in need of the Lords protection."

All signs of anger over Von Strache's disrespectful attitude quickly vanished off Avura's face as he processed what Clemens said. The outer systems were a bunch of free colonies, who were with some exceptions (notably Satella and Shenyang) not founded by the Terra or the administrations of the inner and mid systems. They had their origins from freelancers, adventurers financed by individuals who possessed too much money and time, as well as all kinds of companies, most of whom were conducting mining operations.

Communities and settlements amassed out there however were too small to be actually considered a colony. Unlike in the mid or inner systems, never mind the core, Military outposts and stations were scarce, and the region itself was mind numbingly vast. Piracy, smuggling, and private wars between companies were commonplace.

"Grand Admiral, what is the state of the fleets and our armed forces? We are surely capable of repelling any invasion?" he asked, concerned. While he had not been alive during the War For Survival (or how it was commonly called Armageddon), he grew up with stories of the horror and terror mankind had to endure.

"First and Second Fleets are fully operational, and ready to respond to any threat to the core. The same goes for Third and Fourth in the inner systems. Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Fleets are being mobilized as we speak, and are busy diverting forces throughout the mid systems. Sixth and Ninth Fleets are currently undergoing major overhauls, it'll take weeks until they are fully combat ready. Tenth Fleet is stationed in the outer systems performing anti piracy operations."

Von Strache listed the individual status reports with a stern and professional impression, but that did not stop Avura from flinching when she came to the Tenth Fleet. His Fleet.

Avura had promised to bring order in the so called wild regions, aka the outer systems, during his election campaign, and had modeled the new armada every new administration had to construct, the Tenth Fleet accordingly. The problem was that battleships and carrier were hardly suitable to light smuggling, and were too slow to stop the small ships and mercenaries of warring companies or to hunt down pirates.

Instead of large capital ships which consumed enormous amounts of money and resources, the fleet consisted mostly of patrol craft, corvettes, frigates, destroyers, and a handful of old cruisers. Ideal to fight criminal activities, but it would without a doubt be torn apart if it had to face an actual foe. The fleet's makeup, combined with the general lack of orbital defenses in most of the colonies, left the outer systems pretty exposed to possible alien incursions.

"And what about our ground forces?" This time the question was directed towards Field Marshall Xi, who had remained silent until now.

"Twenty million Guard soldiers can be called upon for deployment within this week. If the decision is taken to mobilize, than these can be aided by around a hundred million regular soldiers. Another month and one hundred fifty million reservists will push the numbers further up. Should the Ecclesia and the Reformed Islamic Church choose to participate in this, then their paramilitary forces would most likely bring up several million more for the defense." the old general listed off.

"Excellent." Avura nodded happily; some good news at last.

"However, any offensive operation could, given our current logistical situation, support only up to fifteen million soldiers at the most. In your place I would protest against offensive or preemptive actions until we gain more intelligence on our enemy. What little we know from the survivors of the first Stargate expedition is insufficient. But I can assure you, that we will be far better suited to fight a second war than we were forty years ago." The last words showed a rare flash of pride from the Asian, who lived as a general through the Fall of China in his youth. Something that, if rumors were to believed, he considered his eternal shame.

"That is certainly true." Avura confirmed. They were no longer naive, weak humans on a divided world, oblivious to the horrors that inhabited the universe. Eighteen years of cold war between the Terran empire and the Terran Federation, as well as the agenda to leave Terra stronger after their rule that every Administration since the great unification followed, had made the once broken and devastated Earth a military juggernaut ready to stand it's ground.

"Hmm, I wonder if we are really bound to only defend ourselves? I think it would be far better to bring the fight to them, before the Goa'uld can muster their forces." Natorious hissed, while scratching her throat with one of her claws.

"I was informed that we managed to take a hostile captive. I can assume he is being interrogated?" The last sentence was aimed at Von Strache.

"Well no." the Grand Admiral answered. "He is unconscious from the psionic overload which followed his mind being struck by more than thirty Guards simultaneously. It is a miracle that he is even alive after that, and even with the information he could provide, I very much doubt he'll know much. The information we have about the Goa'uld suggest that they use slaves as soldiers, what means that it is unlikely that he knows very much about his 'god's domain.' As well, given that he survived the psionic mass assault launched by elite forces, indicates he possesses a ridiculously strong will and mind. Strong enough to resist or at least delay any psionic interrogation."

"Hm. What about an infiltration?" asked Nathan. "We should be able to trace the coordinates of where the attackers came from. A small unit of elite operatives should be capable of slipping through their defenses and collect the necessary information. And if the situation presents itself, either free or eliminate the three unfortunate individuals abducted through gate."

"That seems quite risky, doesn't it?" Avura said, while thinking it through nonetheless. "What if the infiltrators are captured as well?"

"Then they will follow protocol and deny the foe any possible information." answered Strache, who clearly also thought about the option. "It is risky only so far that we lose a couple of soldiers if it fails. Should it succeed however, we'll gain important intelligence over our enemy, which could give us a definite advantage to what we know at present, and could possible save the lives of millions."

"I as well." Natorious added, a satisfied smile on her face. Somehow, Avura could not get rid of the feeling that this was exactly the outcome the snake Queen had hoped for. "In fact I am ready to commit parts of my own personal Praetorian Guards to this operation to ensure it's success."

That last statement shocked the President, as well as the other Terrans in the room, and while they all hid their surprise, it was clearly there. The Praetorians were the most skilled of all the Vipers, tasked with the protection of clan heads and males. They were entirely psionics, a trait that was much rarer in the Vipers than Terrans, and they were able to give the legendary first Guard legion a run for their money.

"Wonderful!" he exclaimed, while making a mental note to investigate the abducted people carefully; sending Praetorian warriors on what was essentially a suicide mission indicated that she had some hidden agenda on her own.

"So will your Praetorian than be in command of the operation, seeing how they will be the most qualified of the operatives?" He was pretty sure that was her intention with the suggestion. It was an unofficial rule introduced by the legend Jack O`Neill himself that in any covert operation the most competent menber take the lead, rank optional.

"Oh no." answered the serpent, smirking now. "I already discussed this matter with my colleagues here while waited for you and Systems Representative Blest to arrive, and both Grand Admiral Von Strache and Pope Clemens agreed to support any effort made to safe those, who were captured by the enemy. As such my Praetorians will accompanied by Templars."

"Excuse me?!" Avura exclaimed. "The Grand Admiral may be a good tactician but as far as I know she does not posses the authority over the armed forces in peace times! That role is still reserved to me the President!"

"Oh quite right, Mr. President." Von Strache said with a predatory undertone. "But I personally have sent out for a certain individual, whose expertise you can not deny."

"You are not talking of…?"

"I don't think there are any objections to having Jack O'Neill join to lead this mission, and I am certain all others here agree." Her lips parted to show a small, teeth filled smile that only widened as she observed how her counterpart realized how right she was.

"And why should he accept? He retired a long time ago and lives a hermit life nowadays." Avura stated, a last attempt to bring up a counterargument.

"Oh he will accept as soon as he hears what our foe is. Protecting Terra and it's people makes out his entire being. I meet him and he is one of the few who managed to gain my honest and unhindered respect. And if only to insure that he comes, I made sure that he gets the news from one of his friends." Von Strache's grin almost split her face now as she rose from her seat.

"I think that this discussion is over. I have to prepare the general staff and the Admiralty for large scale war, and I think that the others have similar important tasks at hand." She strode to the door without anyone making objections to her statements. "Oh and Avura..." she pushed the door open. "Please make sure that you are on time for the next session."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Jack old house! How are you?"

"I'm doing fine."

"Great, would you be so kind and aim the gun somewhere else than my face?"

"Only when you tell me why you are here Harry, and even then it's a maybe."

Harold Mayborne let out a laugh, but still kept his eyes on the barrel of the Springfield rifle currently pointing at his nose.

"Please Jack, what warrants this kind of behavior towards your old pal. And why do you automatically assume that I am here for any other reason than to see my good friend? I'm hurt! Deeply, such mistrust!" the last part was spoken with so little sincerity, it almost made O'Neill hurl.

Observing the surroundings of his log cabin, he searched after faint ripples in the air, small dust clouds caused by invisible feet and pressed down grass. Failing to find any signs of cloaking, O'Neill finally lowered the antique gun and gestured him to come through the doors.

"Nice interior." said Mayborne, while he glanced around. "I like the TV and the stone oven. It has something….. retro."

"Thanks. Want a beer and a cooked fish?"

"Not hungry." declined Mayborne after giving the offered food one short look. "So your lake has fish again, last time you complained that-

"Cut the chat Mayborne, why are you here?" O'Neill interrupted, not letting go of the weapon.

"I assume you heard of the gate attack?" the agent asked rhetorically.

"Yeah!" he answered. "Ferretti informed me. Kawalski was involved in the event and got knocked out by some kind of stun grenade. I guess you're here to recall me into service."

The last sentence was a less a question than a statement.

Mayborne, who for all his banter actually considered the retired war hero a friend, sighed. "I know you're sick of fighting, but it's not something we got a choice in. The Goa'uld won't care if we say we're done with it."

"Really, that old speech?" O'Neill's head jerked up, his eyes glowing purple in anger. "It's not that I'm tired of fighting and believe me I know the Goa'uld better than you. I know how they treat humans, and I doubt they'll make any difference for Terrans. If I go with you or not depends on what I'm supposed to help with."

"It is a reconnaissance mission through the gate to where the Goa'uld came from to collect information on them." The answer stunned Jack, who stared at Mayborne for a couple of seconds with an incredulous look on his face.

When it become obvious to him he was serious, O'Neill threw his head back and started laughing.

"THAT`S IT? You want me for nothing more than a suicide mission, so that I can become some kind of martyr? For crying out loud!" he suddenly stood up, his laughter replaced by anger.

"Out of my house! Now!" he yelled. When he saw Mayborne hesitating, he picked him by his shoulder and pushed him to the door.

"Sorry Jack, but I can't do that. Not this time." he heard Mayborne whisper, and a moment later both were enveloped by psionic energy.

Jack would've been more than capable of resisting the psionic transportation under normal circumstances, but the sheer shock of Mayborne going to such lengths froze him for almost a second, and by then it was already too late to start any countermeasures.

Reality stretched and bent as the familiar surrounding of his cabin disappeared, and he was transported a colossal distance with unimaginable speed. Tremors spiraled through his immaterial form, as he and Mayborne passed barrier after barrier, emplaced to prevent any unregistered psionic porting. The large amount of barriers indicated the place Mayborne was bringing him to had some tight security.

Passing one last barrier, Jack sensed his body begin to rematerialized again, and he prepared himself for whatever awaited him.

He had barely reformed again when he made his move, ala punching Mayborne in the face. The man somehow managed to block O'Neill's first strike, but hunched over when Jack simultaneously kneed him between his legs then plunged a fist into his stomach. Jumping back, he hastily channeled his psionic energy to tear through any new assailants, but was instantly hit by at least a dozen Psi attacks.

For a moment it seemed the unknown attackers might have overpowered Jack before he could collect himself and repel their mental assault. Intending to strike back, O'Neill opened his defenses to counterattack, and five astral lances of pure agony penetrated his consciousness, forcing him to redirect his psionic might on the protection of his mind.

Sensing entities closing in to his physical body, he completely retreated to nothing but psionic defense, while only narrowly dodging a spiral of electricity fired at him.

Pain flooded his nervous systems as only nanoseconds later two more lightning arcs were shot at him, with one hitting. Cursing imaginatively, Jack forced his partially paralyzed arms up by the electricity, creating a purple psionic shield a heartbeat before another volley impacted him.

Not one second after forming the shield, he was already forced to dissolve it as the psi power invested in making the barrier missed the block protecting his mind, something the other psi fighters present immediately noticed.

"GENTLEMEN! WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP THIS!"

Jack, as well as the power armor clad guards fighting him, all froze in their current actions and diverted their attention to the shouting person. Namely, a rather small white haired woman in uniform, one who had a clearly angered expression on her face.

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Saliva ran down Allen's mouth as he stared at the delicious meal before him. Everything from the finest pizza to the sweetest of deserts was present. And all for him to eat.

Lurching forward with closed eyes he rammed his teeth into the steak in front of him and tasted the... dust.

Opening his eyelids again while spitting out the stuff in his mouth, the colossal ten course dinner was gone. It was replaced by rows of people, and one quick glance told him that the "steak" was nothing but a piece of earth.

"Finally done sleeping and eating dirt?" asked the blonde woman right to him, rather impolitely. Blinking rapidly, he ignored the very rude rhetorical question and instead looked around, observing his surroundings.

Which he quickly discovered consisted of what looked like a poorly lightened dungeon filled with humans who, judging from the clothing, looked like they originated from some history enthusiast club. They all held a respectable distance to him, probably having to do with the large Viper that had wrapped herself protectively around him. Or the dead body of a human male who still had acid dripping off his face. Acid of which he had a vague guess of where it came from.

Before Allen had so much of a chance to talk about where he was, he was interrupted when the reptile slung around him realized he was awake.

"Oh my god Allen, you're awake!" she all but screamed, and instantly began inspecting him for any injuries or signs of discomfort. "How are you? Are you in pain? How's your head doing, cause mine ached when I woke up and-"

The Terran managed to wiggle one of his arms out of her tight hug to put a finger before her, stopping her rapid questions about his well being. "It's okay Med. I'm fine. No pain, no injuries, nothing.

While saying this, he tried to remember what happened and how he got here. He was faintly able to recall how he and that guy in golden armor fought. The man was able to fire some kind of yellow energy with his hand device into Allen's brain, most likely radiation; judging how it had hurt and he had been losing consciousness. Next thing was him awakening here.

He noticed how the woman right to them scoffed and frowned.

"Miss Templar, say, were you the one who killed that man?" he asked her, pointing at the corpse.

"I didn't mean to." she told him, a somewhat apologetic look on her face. "When I woke up, he was groping me and I reacted instinctively."

"When you woke up, huh?" That couldn't have been all that long ago. Terran acid was very potent and given the state the deformed face of the rapist was it was at most an hour ago. "What happened? Where are we?"

"Do I look like I know?" she answered sarcastically. "Could you two please disentangle? It makes both of you easy targets when we have to fight our way out of here."

Now it was Allen's time to frown, but he and Medusa followed her request nonetheless, both recognizing the truth behind it. Despite obeying her, the female Terran's face remained unfriendly and she turned away from them, starting to quietly pray in Latin.

"So those are humans." whispered Medusa staring at the other prisoners clad in fur and other primitive clothing. "I thought they were extinct, that all humans are Terrans now?"

"They're probably the descendants of human slaves from Earth." answered Allen. "You know, like Abydosians. In that movie about the Stargate expedition, the one where Kurt Russel played as O'Neill."

"Oh, I thought it was something like that." the Viper told him nervously. "Allen, I'm scared. What will happen to us?"

"We'll be tortured to extract any possible information out of us, and then either be killed or turned into slaves!" answered the Templar before Allen could say anything. "Of course none of us will reveal them anything so we'll be killed."

Her tone throughout the prediction sent a shudder down both Medusa's and Allen's spines, and the white haired Terran pushed the Viper behind him. When the woman stood up to take a step towards them, psionic power crackled in her eyes and around her hand.

"You won't talk, will you?" She took another step, causing the other Terran and the Viper to back away an equal distance away her. "You are citizens of Terra, and it is your holy duty to deny the enemy any advantage he could gain over us."

"Yeah, sure! We won't say a word, right Med?" he assured the woman while continuing to back away, frantically thinking of any options they had should the Templar attack them. The Vioer mirrored his actions while hastily nodding.

"You do not have any anti-interrogation training." stated the woman, now with a deadly calm voice. "You wont have a choice in it. Sorry, but I can't allow any risks to Terra."

She took another step towards them, her arms now glowing purple; Allen knew she was ready to unleash the lethal rend blades. Both Allen and Medusa tensed, unwilling to simple die just now.

"KREE! Salkesh!"

The words, bellowed in a foreign language, ripped through the air. Alone it caused the humans to disperse in terror, while simultaneously making the two Terrans and the Viper jump in surprise.

The gate separating the humans from the Jaffa on the other side of the large dungeon was slowly lifted, the serpent guards lining up behind the entrance, lowered staffs at ready to blast any slave who wanted to try something stupid.

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Rya'c cautiously moved forward. Unlike the other serpent warriors guarding the human slaves, he alone saw a threat from the trio of bizarre warriors from that one world, who were easily capable of slaughtering them all. And he could with sincerity say that he had never before battled such fearsome foes. Which was precisely the reason why he was here.

"So, this are the ones who killed most of Apophis guard and captured your father? They look impressive enough." said Salesh, the commander of the dungeon guards. He was occupied with eying the three beings, who weren't moving upon seeing the gates being opened.

The two human looking ones were big, easily towering over the humans around them. In fact, they were taller than most Jaffa, but that wasn't what made their inhuman nature obvious. That was firstly made clear to the Jaffa (and most likely the slaves in the dungeon as well) when the woman had killed the slave fondling her. She simply grabbed his shoulders and exhaled something resembling a green cloud, which covered most of the molesters face and upper body.

Salesh doubted anyone in the prison hadn't heard the grueling screams as the poison ate it's way through his skull.

"Didn't you say she was hit by a staff blast in the stomach?" he asked. "She does not seem to be in any pain. Did our Lord heal her with his powers?"

"I doubt it." answered Rya'c, who had noticed as well. "It is more likely that these creatures possess extraordinary pain resistance. It would not surprise me."

His eyes narrowed as he watched the blonde woman; he remembered well how she attacked his father and the other Jaffa, killing and fighting with the same fanatical glimpse in the eyes that could be found in the faces of far too many of his brothers.

The overseer might see potential allies in them; allies for his secret struggle against the false gods. But he hadn't seen that creature in action, gutting Jaffa with purple swords with glee. And for that, Rya'c feared for his safety.

The other humans, all freshly abducted from the countless worlds of his Lord's domain, each one hosting primitive human civilizations, backed away from the advancing Jaffa moving into the large hall, leaving his targets open.

Suppressing the tremble attempting to take control of his body, he too went along.

All three, the two humanlike beings and the large serpent, straightened and visible tensed as the Jaffa formed a circle around them.

"You three!" Rya'c barked, stepping forward while pointing at them. "Come with me at once!"

The three hesitated and stared at one another, as if they were unsure to follow the order or not. Sighing, the trio slowly began to walk towards him, each being accompanied by two Jaffa.

Turning around, Rya'c sensed the burning eyes of the blonde on his back, and he suddenly got the feeling that the woman knew exactly who he was, despite her only seeing him in his serpent armor and not in person.

He couldn't shake the feeling as they passed the gate, moving through the dungeons entrance an up to their intended destination. Their group was stopped multiple times, but the mention that he was acting on orders of the overseer was more than enough to overcome these small obstacles.

"Where are you bringing us?" asked a timid voice, causing him to look to the speaker. Surprisingly did it not originate from the white haired man, the smallest of the three (small being relative, given that he was still bigger than him) but the large snake, who had clear worry written all over her face. Rya'c raised an eyebrow, not expecting the large predator to be the most visibly concerned of the group.

"To the Grand Overseer. He will decide over your fate." he answered flatly.

"Is that another punk who is mentally deranged enough to think of himself as a god?" the question caused Rya'c, as well as all other Jaffa, to stop in their tracks, didn't originate from the serpent.

Whirling around while activating his staff, he aimed his weapon directly at her face. Simultaneously Salesh, who was one of the escorting Jaffa, walked up to her and rammed the end of his staff in her stomach, exactly where her wound was.

"Speak of your god like again, and I will personally execute you for it, Slave!" he hissed, twisting the staff to rip open part of the crude clothing she wore there to reveal the wound. Or better, the lack of a wound, as only bare skin was visible.

"What a pathetic strike!" scoffed the blonde, with neither her face nor her voice showing any signs of pain. Before anyone could react she punched Salesh in the face, putting enough force into the blow to shatter his nose and to send him reeling him back.

"And there is only one God, who commands me. The God with whose help I endured, fought and killed horrors which you couldn't even imagine! SI DI VOLUNT!" while screaming the last three words, her entire body practically exploded in purple light, blinding the Jaffa who were about to fire upon her.

Simultaneously with the Viper and the white haired man each tackling the nearest Jaffa, the woman lunged forward to drive two energy blades through the chests of the Jaffa between her and Rya'c, killing them instantly. Rya'c, who'd had been smart enough to squeeze his eyes shut once the woman had started glowing, observed how balls of the purple light exited the two dying Jaffa and were absorbed by their killer.

Before she could however claim even more Jaffa lives starting with Ry'ac, she was hit by a wave of yellow energy, slamming the warrior into the companions behind her.

The surviving Jaffa immediately aimed their staffs at them, but were stopped from executing them by the harsh voice of the overseer. "Stop this!"

It was all that was needed to stop the trio, causing the Terrans and the Viper to stop and stare at him in pure shock.

"Impossible."

 **Authors Notes: Hmmm, who may this overseer be, that he's able to shock Carter, Allen and Medusa by his mere appearance? Also to anyone wondering if the Terrans will just stomp any opposition in the galaxy be assured, that will not happen.**

 **I hope you liked this chapter. If you did leaving a review would be nice. I am especially interested what you think of Von Strache, cause the good Grand Admiral will play quite a big role.**


	4. Chapter 4

Authors note:

This story is dead. The idea behind it however not. I'm writing something of a prequel to how humanity came from normal earth to the the terran federation.

Here's the link for who is interested

threads/terras-destiny-prelude-to-war-stargate-xcom.703561/#post-53707147


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